No matter the weather, Sulzbacher prepared to help

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Winter weather increases concern for the some 4,000 homeless people living in Duval County.

On any given night, the Sulzbacher Center in downtown Jacksonville, provides shelter for about 350 people.

When the temperatures plummet to below 40 degrees, the center sees an additional 50 people.

Thursday morning, volunteers prepared 80 pounds of food for the some 500 people looking for a hot meal.

For each meal, the shelter cooks 80 pounds of food. That is 240 pounds of food a day and 87,360 pounds of food per year.

During the last cold snap, the center received an excess amount of coat donations, so they were able to give some away to partner shelters in the area.

Now, the Sulzbacher says they are more prepared than ever for the cold temperatures.

"For this cold snap, we are so much more prepared than we were last time around. I really attribute that to all of the news coverage that we got. Our phones were ringing off the hooks, we got phones, blankets, sleeping bags ... everything you would need," said Allison Vega, Sulzbacher Public Relations and Marketing Manager.